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"This is how all will know
that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." Do
you ever wonder why it is so important for Jesus that we love one
another? Perhaps it is because in and through each other, we encounter
the living Christ in the world. Have we been able to accept this reality
yet? Since the moment of our baptism the Holy Spirit lives in us and
binds us to the Body of Christ. It is so easy for me to accept the real
presence of Jesus in the sacrament of his Body and Blood. So why is it
so hard to accept the real presence of Jesus in my brothers and sisters,
and perhaps even harder yet, to accept him in myself?
When Paul encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus, Jesus asked him,
"why do you persecute me?" Paul never met Jesus in the flesh. Paul only
encountered and persecuted Jesus in his disciples. Later, Paul
came to understand that anything he did to a disciple of the Lord he did
to Christ himself. This is a great mystery that we must learn to
appreciate more deeply every day of our lives. This is why, in our daily
contacts, we must treat every person with the utmost reverence and
respect. We are the Body of Christ. We are the temples of God's glory.
If we had any kind of grasp of this how could we sin against one another
the way we do? How could we take this very special presence of
Jesus so for granted?
"Whatever you do to the least of them, you do unto me." Those words are
true of your wife or your husband, your parents, your children, brother
and sisters, your fellow workers and neighbors, as well as your friends.
They are a few of the very important ways in which Christ is present in
the world today. And you are a significant manifestation of his presence
in their life also!
You might say, "well, I don't feel very Christ like." Unless you spend
time with your wife, you do not feel like a husband. Unless you spend
time with your children, you do not feel like a mother. Unless you spend
time with Christ in prayer, how can you experience the life of the Lord
within you?
Our Holy Father and our
Archbishop Cardinal George have asked us to reflect on ways to become a
more evangelizing people. We begin by re-evangelizing ourselves;
reconsidering the truths of our faith. Next, we call upon the Spirit
first given to us in baptism and released with power at confirmation.
Then as we live the mystery of Christ alive in us, we will draw all men
and women to the Lord! |
